A 31-point defeat by England on Sunday seems to mark yet another year of toil for Italy in the Six Nations. But behind the scorelines, coach Conor O'Shea is leading a quiet rugby revolution in a country that does not recognise the sport as professional.

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There were no mind games from Gatland at his team announcement press conference on Tuesday, although he did deliver a couple of playful one-liners.

Asked if he noticed a difference among the England players from previous British & Irish Lions tours on last year's New Zealand excursion, Gatland said: "I didn't notice because it is the first time they've had a few English players!"

And encouraged to discuss Jones possibly being the 2021 Lions chief in South Africa, Gatland added: "He'll do a great job if he's Lions coach. A 3-0 [Test series win] will be expected. It's probably the easiest of the three tours, isn't it?

"I'm just intrigued by watching him, the way he prepares and how he goes about doing things. You learn as much as you possibly can from others. The game changes and you learn from watching other people."

England are on a mission to overtake New Zealand as world No. 1 by the 2019 World Cup -- they host the All Blacks in November -- and Gatland said: "You can't argue with Eddie's ambition and their record in the past couple of seasons.

"That [number one] has definitely been their target, and we will know by the autumn. That's going to be interesting. You set yourself up for a big game, and then you potentially become number one or someone pulls your pants down.

"He [Jones] doesn't need to nick anything from me. I'm the one learning from him. He has obviously done a great job, so I am watching him particularly closely."

Wales were the last team to beat England at Twickenham in a Six Nations fixture, winning 19-12 in 2012, and Gatland is relishing Saturday's meeting.

"We don't have any fear about going up there and playing. We are excited about it," he said.